NEWS and UPCOMING EVENTS:

CONCORA’s New Artistic Director:
Dr. Christopher Shepard

CONCORA’s Board of Directors is delighted to announce the appointment of Christopher Shepard as its second Artistic Director, succeeding Artistic Director Emeritus Richard Coffey, who founded the ensemble as the region’s first all-professional choir in 1974. The ensemble has been led by guest conductors during the 2014-2015 season, as a national search was conducted to identify Maestro Coffey’s successor. Dr. Shepard will assume leadership of the ensemble starting with the soon-to-be announced 2015-2016 season.

Dr. Shepard’s appointment is the culmination of a two-year national search that began when Maestro Coffey announced in 2013 that he would step down as CONCORA’s Artistic Director at the conclusion of the 2013-2014 season (his, and CONCORA’s, fortieth). From some 55 qualified applicants, the Search Committee selected three finalists who led CONCORA in concerts in late 2014. The Committee’s unanimous recommendation that Dr. Shepard be appointed was unanimously endorsed by CONCORA’s Board of Directors.

Please click here to read our Press Release, filled with information about Chris’ background and his plans for the future of CONCORA. Soon, we will share information about the exciting programs Dr. Shepard has planned to present during his first season as CONCORA’s Artistic Director. Please join us throughout the season to hear for yourself why we are so thrilled that he has accepted our invitation to lead CONCORA.

Dr. Shepard will greet CONCORA friends and supporters on Saturday, February 28 at Rite of Swing, CONCORA’s annual gala fundraiser to be held at The Riverview in Simsbury, Connecticut. Please join us for what is sure to be a festive, celebratory, occasion. You can buy tickets here, or call the CONCORA office at 860-293-0567 for more information.

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BACH!
March 29, 2015, 4:00 PM

Charles Bruffy, guest conductor

Grammy-award winner Charles Bruffy will conduct CONCORA’s annual Bach program in concert with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. Two hallmarks of CONCORA’s Bach programming are the cantatas and the motets. This concert incorporates both, including two contrasting motets (the shortest and the longest of the six) and Cantata #147, which contains Bach’s widely beloved choral-orchestral movement, the chorus “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.” Bach must have known that this movement would be a “big hit” because he placed it twice within this very cantata, the second time perhaps a very early example of an “encore.”

Mr. Bruffy is conductor of the Kansas City Chorale and the Phoenix Chorale.